Let’s Go Have a Baby! – Part 1

See why I was waiting to go to the hospital or start at the beginning.

After a few false starts, I was approved to go into the hospital to start the induction about 12 hours after originally planned. When I called, they said to give them a couple hours and then go in. We drove over to the hospital and when we approached the front desk for a badge for my husband, they came toward us with badge in hand. We giggled saying they probably thought I was actually in labor, because I was pretty big for 36 weeks and we must have looked in a hurry. By the time we arrived on the floor, a few people had gone into labor on their own and arrived ahead of us. We sat in the waiting room literally waiting for a room for about an hour. Still I know, that under normal circumstances I would not have been approved to go in. The schedule for my care was important to keep on track. With a weekend coming up I was concerned knowing that they do not typically admit you to our hospital to induce on the weekends.

I wish I could tell you I had a fantastic dramatic delivery story from my first daughter, That Little Girl, having been born, because it would make for a more entertaining read I suppose. Trust me when I tell you that I am beyond grateful for a great team and a body that had proven to deliver babies fairly easily with my first. That said, I had no idea what was going to happen as I walked into the hospital that morning.  After I was taken back to a delivery room, I was about 1 cm. dilated on arrival. The doctor who was on at the hospital that day was also the same OB-GYN from my practice that had felt the lump in the office and sent me to have it checked. When she walked in, she was still shocked that it turned out to be cancer. I won’t write what she said, but needless to say it was a real shock even to her. We talked about everything. I thanked her for sending me now knowing that she really never expected that it would be anything. She also did a quick ultrasound to confirm That Baby was still head down.

It took about two hours for them to start the induction process. They put the monitors on my belly and took some bloodwork. They started the IV’s and applied the Cytotec. I did get Pitocin and after an hour I was able to be up and walk the halls. I was having contractions, but nothing too significant.The entire day was made even better by my day nurse who shared her personal story with cancer touching her family. It was another case of someone being placed on my path to comfort and help me just when I needed it most. She also told me how busy they were the night before in detail. I was very happy to have gone in that morning after hearing the stories and since they had emptied out, it meant I had my nurse all to myself!

As we walked the halls, we were still debating That Baby’s name and my labor was progressing about as even with that conversation as my husband suddenly got hooked on the name Millicent. Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s a great name. It just came out of nowhere and let’s just say it didn’t make the birth certificate. Also as we were walking, the other OB-GYN stopped in to check on me. This meant so much to me. She knew about everything my family was going through and she reminded me that That Baby was likely the reason I found the lump. She even went so far as to say that she may have saved my life by the cancer being detected early.

By this time my mom had joined my husband and I at the hospital. They took turns going down to have lunch. I tried desperately to find anything to watch on television. My dad was spending the day with That Little Girl. Other than nearly losing her Pink Bunny, she was having a blast! Just after lunch, the doctor checked my progress, only to find that I was still 1 cm dilated.